I’m sorry to give a poor review, but this was probably my worst race ever, even though I had a PR. The race was on a Saturday, so there wasn’t a weekend packet pickup option. This made things difficult because packet pickup was only at 3 sports stores over the week before, and they were only until 7:30pm. Not practical for working-commuting people. There was an option to pay to have the packet delivered, and there was a lottery to do packet pick-up beforehand, limited to 300 people, but this was already an expensive race to begin with. I wasn’t impressed by the options.

So, the race.... I left in plenty of time to make it there, but got caught in a 30-minute parking jam trying to get into the zoo complex. I found the first patch of grass that didn’t have a car, and ran to the start, which was a pretty far distance. I had to go to the bathroom really badly, so got to the start and went the wrong direction and had to go ALL the way around the corrals to find it. (No signs). Finally found the port-a-Johns, went in, and the potty was tipping while I was going. It was so scary! I don’t think the locks were on it. I didn’t finish my business, but the race was about to start so I ran out to the corrals to start running. Having to go the whole time of the race wasn’t fun- 10 miles is a long distance! The course was HARD. Lots of hills, messed-up pavement, and it was hot. The water stops were very frequent which was nice, and there were great and encouraging crowds.

I’ve washed my race shirt five times now and it still smells funny. Too bad, as it’s a nice shirt. I’m rating this race as poor because of the parking problems and the packet pickup.

This was my second half marathon this year and I really enjoyed it. The course was smooth and had rolling elevations throughout. I loved going through the zoo complex. The weather couldn’t have been better. Parking was easy. The expo could have had more vendors, and there could have been more pre-planned events surrounding the race for out-of-towners, but other than that, I’d highly recommend this race. I’m considering running the full next year as a kick-off for the spring season. This was my first of the 3 races in the BFD series (Baltimore-Frederick-Delaware), and there was a special VIP tent with great food for BFD runners. Corrigan does it up well!

I ran the 5K as part of the BFD series (Baltimore-Frederick-Delaware), put on by Corrigan Sports. I’m glad I did the 5K instead of the half the day after, as the weather was pretty bad for the half. I had a PR for this race. It was a smooth, out-and-back course with ample water stations and it was fairly flat. My son and I ran the kid’s fun run right before, which was short and fun. I liked that the kid’s race was scheduled so I could run it with him, and then do my own race. It was great to have him there, and I loved showing him what I do when I’m not at home during training. The post-race party was Ok. It seemed like it wasn’t quite ready for prime-time, as the bigger events would be the next day. And the swag, well, I’m pretty disappointed with the t-shirt. I’m almost always a size small, and this shirt was just way too small. They didn’t seem to have a way to swap T’s. I’m surprised because they were Under-Armor shirts, which are usually pretty consistent with sizing. But, despite this, it was a great race and I’m happy I did it. Great way to show Maryland Pride!